14 - Polymer composites for enzyme sensors

Abstract

Functional organic materials are mainly constituted of conductive polymers (CPs) and polymer composites. CPs are characterized by being compatible materials for biomolecule immobilization, having low cost, and possessing distinctive electrical and physical properties. Thus these materials are the first-choice materials in various applications such as solar cells, supercapacitors, biomedical systems, electronic devices, batteries, and sensors. CPs are converted into composite materials by incorporating metal oxides, metals, or carbon-based materials into them for improving the performance of these materials. CPs have been extensively applied over a wide range of variable electrochemical sensor and biosensor fabrication. CPs and their related composite materials are widely used for making electrochemical sensors. In addition, these materials are used for sensing hazardous gases in combination with some intelligent sensing systems, and this has been a focus of current research due to the fact that the surrounding gas contains many hazardous gas mixtures that are unhealthy for humans and other living beings. Various nanomaterials, including graphene-based nanocomposites, find a wide spectrum of applications in supercapacitors, biosensors, corrosion, and solar-cell related fields. Therefore this chapter deals with the description of electrochemical sensor, gas sensor, and biosensor fabrication and the mechanisms of the commonly used and important conductive polymer composite materials. This chapter also provides a comprehensive discussion of the processing and application of conductive polymer-based composites, graphene-based composites, and nanocomposites in sensors and other related functions.